Frost on my Window
by Chester91
Summary: At college, new things are learned and particulary four things stood out one: Axel was too horny for his own good, two: Roxas was too curious for his own good, three: Sora wasn't as oblivous as everyone thought, and lastly: maybe Riku wasn't as cocky
1. Chapter 1

This is Axel/Roxas cause Axel is my favorite character. He's just awesome. Roxas and Namine never meshed together very well anyway.

Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts. Or Girl, Interrupted

* * *

So this day was just like any other day, yeah. Wake up and get up. Then…shit happens. And no, this doesn't mean what occurs in the bathroom. 

"Shake your moneymaker like somebody's gonna pay ya. Somethin something. Hey hey. Shakin paper…."

"Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you shut the fuck up?"

"Yeah." Axel turned the radio off and resumed with brushing his hair. Well, not really. Just another opportunity for him to admire his dastardly handsome looks. It's not like he was conceited or anything, but why try to ignore how wonderful he looked? His roommate Demyx wasn't much of a morning person. Especially when someone started playing rap music loudly. For Demyx, it didn't sound like music anymore, just someone attacking a blackboard with their nails. Axel specifically knew that Demyx didn't like rap because of one specific incident when on Halloween when Demyx started chasing several kids dressed as rappers with his overly large blue guitar raised threateningly over his head. He had dressed as a rock star of course. Axel had to goad him with candy to back him away from the poor children, who started throwing their shiny accessories at him in an attempt of asking for mercy on their gangster souls.

It didn't matter that it had only been last year when they were eighteen. Or that every house they went to gave them strange looks. An era of awkward silence would erupt after the owner of the house would answer, then Axel would push his candy bag out and look expectantly at them. They would hesitantly drop a few pieces of some sort of candy into each of their bags and hope that that was what they were after and that they weren't serial killers or mental patients that had escaped that night.

It had been a very fun and memorable night.

"Why aren't you gone yet?"

"Do you want me gone that badly?"

"You're looking at yourself again, aren't you?" His voice drifted from under his comforter. Axel had a small urge to jump on him and see if that could smother him into a premature coma.

"…Maybe." Caught again. Axel winked at the mirror once again before setting off. "Bye honey." Axel didn't wait for an answer and unceremoniously shut the door without a second thought.

* * *

"Lord of the Dance has reappeared!" 

"Are you still going out about that?"

"What are you talking about? This isn't some phase, this is me! You have to either accept it or …accept it!" Sora cried out. His mind wandered back to when he was in 5th grade and had to take Music Appreciation where they played the ukulele, had to memorize part of the national anthem, and watched a video about the Lord of the Dance.

He had never thought they now, freshly turned eighteen, it would come to this. He was starting at Hollow Bastion, a secluded and prestigious school that was placed high on the mountains. Because of its location, the students were required to live at the school. Sora had been very nervous of course, but he shared a room with his cousin Roxas and his best friend also attended the school.

Sora shifted his mind back to the topic at hand. "What do you have to say Roxas?" He had to stand his ground and to defend all the glory of the Irish. Not that he was Irish or anything, but it was the thought that counted. Wait…was the Lord of the Dance Irish?

"Go get dressed, I'm leaving in a minute with or without you."

"Okay!" Sora happily replied. He unfastened the cape around him made from his sheets and ran to his closet and haphazardly threw articles of clothing behind him. They miraculously landed on his bed. His pink sheets curled up into a corner of the room. Roxas had always wondered why they were pink, to which Sora answered that he accidentally put them with colors in the laundry. Then Roxas started to wonder why Sora still kept them. Sora had never answered back.

Roxas chuckled and held the door open. Seconds later a blur with unruly brown hair rushed past him. "Hurry up Roxy, we're going to be late!" Roxas closed the door and ran after him.

* * *

"Welcome boys and girls to the world of art. For those who are new, I'm Professor Cid. Not Mr. Cid, Kid, Prof, teach, or any of that bullshit. I'm sure we'll make it through another year." The man had a rough face that oozed …something. Many were instantly comforted by his presence and some of his students took his class just because of the mere fact that he taught it. That and he didn't care what the students did during class too. That might have been it too. 

"Hey Cid!"

The Professor turned from his conversation with a miniature girl who had her hair in pigtails and grunted in response. "Back again, Axel?"

"I had to come back for you."

"You're still a horny little prick, aren't ya?" Cid roughly said.

"Obviously," said Axel. He picked a seat in the back and hung his legs over the desk. "Ah, it's good to be back." Axel watched Cid as the pigtails girl asked him about what they would be doing in class this year. Axel shook his head and knew that the girl was done for. There was no asking questions in Cid's class. Nope. Soon enough the girl retreated back to her seat, quietly sniffling while brushing through her pigtails with her fingers.

Axel continued in making himself comfortable. The bell rang and Cid spoke. "As most of you should know, this class is a do-it-yourself rather than- " He was cut off by odd noise. "Shut it Axel. You're disruptin my work."

"Whatever you say." Axel coolly stated. Cid was about to go back into what he was saying when three people burst into the room. The first had wide eyes and his mouth was wide open as he realized that he had broke in. The second looked a tad bit girly, but that was put off with the muscles that were sprinkled on him. Axel had always been jealous of his luck. No matter how much he worked out he never gained any substantial muscle. The third was somewhat like the first, but didn't seem as childlike. And he was exactly Axel's type.

"What are doing here?" Cid barked, angered at being interrupted twice.

The first boy nervously answered, "To learn?"

"Sorry Cid won't happen again." The second boy suavely said. He walked past Cid and the two other boys and settled himself in the back next to Axel. "You're early today? What a surprise."

"Be quiet Riku, I'm trying to learn here."

The two boys took one last glance at Cid before hurrying to the back as well. At least the first boy did, the other kind of glided to the back. Somehow.

"Now what I was sayin before these idiots barged in, the school board has talked to me about my…lax way…during class and has told me I have to get a more active role in teaching. So for the first week you all have to make some sort of artistic work." Cid gave them all a glare that plainly told them 'get to work or I'm failing all you brats' before settling himself at his desk.

Axel thought about whether or not he wanted to get to work. He could and start thinking about what was going to be the theme of his next masterpiece, but there wouldn't be too much fun in that. Anyways, he liked working back in his room where he could annoy Demyx by saying that he couldn't get his genius fluids to start working if he was playing that racket on his guitar. That always got Demyx riled up.

"Um…excuse me, but are you Irish?"

Axel started to cough, surprised at the sudden question. "W-w-hat makes you think that?"

The boy with brown hair began to look a little uncomfortable. "You have red hair, so shouldn't that make you Irish?"

Axel laughed in a way that didn't make you sure whether or not he was laughing because he really thought it was funny or if he laughed to make the boy feel better. It was probably best that no one ever found that one out.

"It was a serious question!"

Axel looked at the boy that was right next to the brunet. "And may I ask what your name is?"

"Roxas…"

"Roxas, I am not Irish. In fact, I am Norwegian but I have a crazy grandmother by the name of Flora who lives in Jamaica with her two other sisters Fauna and Merryweather. They're triplets." Axel innocently answered. "Her favorite color is red."

Roxas tried to hold back the laugh that was about to erupt from him. Riku, fortunately, decided to answer for him. "That's something, isn't it?" Riku then pointed to the boy who had asked the question, now twiddling his thumbs. "This is Sora. He's very curious."

"Like Curious George?"

"Exactly."

"Not exactly, though. Sora may be curious, but he's not called George. And he's not a monkey from what I can tell. I've heard that humans evolved from monkeys though."

Roxas wasn't really sure what to say. Riku and Sora mirrored the same blank expression. Roxas was sure he hadn't met anyone like Axel before since he's never been to a mental hospital or a prison, except that one time he went to an ice cream shop and a group of mental patients came in with the head ward. They seemed pretty normal until one of the girls asked for extra nuts. Then they all broke out into laughter, one of which started to scream. Her face didn't look very scared so Roxas had thought that she probably didn't know how to laugh and screaming really was the next best thing. Then they were all ushered out the shop. Go figure.

* * *

I hope this didn't sound too strange or anything. I wanted to write something mainly about Axel. The mental patient thing is from the book Girl, Interrupted. The screaming girl however is something I added to it. The Irish thing is something I used to think too, but I was proven incorrect. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: don't own anything.

* * *

"Are you still dating that artsy girl?" 

"Namine?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Naw, I dumped her before summer started. She always looked at me funny whenever I said something weird. She was too quiet for my tastes, more of a thinker than a doer." Axel lazily said, playing tic-tac-toe with Sora. His attention focused on the game, after all, it was a game of skill, deception, and concentration. Not like Monopoly, that game was a disaster waiting to happen. Even if you managed to get even half way through that bitch of a game, you had to deal with your opponents and their cheating tendencies. At least, that's how it was with Axel's family. The last family reunion had turned brutal when his grandfather Merlin and his grandma Flora fiercely debated on whether or not grandpa Merlin had snuck some Monopoly money into his robes (and his pointy hat, but who counted anyway). As the game progressed, grandpa Merlin then accused grandma Flora of cheating on him with a Jamaican man when she refused to sell him Boardwalk. That was the first time they had seen each other since the divorce. Not pretty.

"Gee, I wonder why," Roxas sarcastically said. He was busily sketching something on his pad. He seemed to think that class was actually for doing something. No idea how that got into his mind.

Axel gave him a withering look. He marked a 'x' on the paper and grinned at Sora. Sora stuck his tongue out in defeat. "Yes, I won!" Axel gleefully poked Riku on the arm to witness his victory. "You should be happier, Roxas. It's not every day you get to watch a genius in work," Axel added.

Sure. Like he needed advice from someone that could be deemed mentally unstable. Roxas felt that maybe he should have been a little nicer or accommodating to a person he had met only yesterday, but he shoved that thought far into the back of his mind. He needed to draw. That's all. Not think about some redhead who was not Irish, but Norwegian. He didn't know where Norway was. If someone asked him that question in exchange for sparing his life, which may happen someday, he would only say it's in Europe. Which it is…. isn't it? Roxas scratched his head in frustration.

Beep. Beep. Plunk. Beeeeeeeeeeep.

Roxas shook himself out of his stupor to hear the noise. He glared at the others with the look that challenged whoever's stupid phone it was to get it out. He continued in his duel with the rest of the class. Minutes passed and gradually other students would turn around to look at the four students in the back. Roxas glared at them further for even thinking that it might have been him. He felt a tap on his shoulder. His eyes traced the finger back to the body, which belonged to Axel. "What?" Roxas snapped.

Axel made a motion with his finger for Roxas to move closer. Roxas gulped and scooted towards him. Roxas was inches from him when Axel suddenly leaned in. Roxas shut his eyes as if that could somehow protect him from whatever Axel was about to do. He had some creative ideas on what Axel was going to do, but he banished those thoughts away with an imaginary flyswatter. He felt a warm breath on his ear that whispered, "Look down."

Roxas did. He noticed something lighting up in his pocket. Oh. Oops. Roxas sheepishly turned his phone off and waved to the rest of the students. "Sorry." Roxas knew that he probably looked incredibly stupid at the moment, but he couldn't keep his eyes glued to his pants forever. It would look as if he was staring at his crotch or something. Not that it would, right?

"Wanna play me?"

Roxas gaped at Axel. What does that mean? And why does that sound perverted? It's a totally, okay maybe not completely, normal sentence that somehow warped into some declaration of sexual hormones or something. "Pardon me?"

"You. Me. Arm wrestling." Axel deviously said, if possible.

"No thanks." I've got better things to do than act like a ten year-old or gross old man in a bar, thanks.

Then, again if possible, Axel's eyes sparked. Not like when you stick a fork into an electric outlet and get burned, but more like small flames dancing around in his eyes. They were actually intimidating. "C'mon, we could even make wagers. That is…if you're not too chicken."

And that was the magic word. Back in old times (god knows when) to face someone in a duel you would take off your glove and slap him or her across the cheek with it. In modern times this was the equivalent. That or pushing them, calling them fuckface, or generally partaking in violent and name-calling acts. Same difference.

So Roxas did what any other person in his situation would do. He accepted with cold determination. "You're on."

Roxas was feeling pretty confident; he did win his fair share of arm wrestle battles back in the day. They were against his little cousins, but that was until Axel started to crack his knuckles. He had a pair of black gloves on that made him appear tough. The cracking only intensified this effect. There was no backing down now. Roxas could only watch as his adversary made all kinds of noises cracking his knuckles. Knuckles that looked like they were twice the size of Roxas's and would have no difficulty in making his surrender. Nothing else to do but go down with a fight that lasts a minute. Hopefully.

"You ready?" Axel smiled. Yeah, I'm ready to get my ass…hand whooped you sadistic jerk. "On the count of three. One…two…three!"

The hands met in an epic clash to answer the age-old question of who was stronger. Roxas had already acknowledged defeat the moment he accepted Axel's offer, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next. The moment he touched Axel's hand he felt…nervous. The pressure of Axel's hand was forcing his to the table and Roxas gave a weak push in response. His mind was occupied with restraining his cheeks from going red and revealing the thoughts Roxas was having. Roxas had never thought of himself as being the kind of person to be into dating and constantly being infatuated with someone, only three years ago he had a major crush on Kairi. That had been flattened by the fact that she was blindly in love with Sora. However, Sora was blindly oblivious to that and remained peacefully at Riku's side to this day. He didn't really know what kind of the relationship the two had either. They were best friends, but it went deeper than that. They did things that best friends didn't do; they shared things about each other that people who were dating had no clue about. Their status didn't concern Roxas very much.

He only been in one relationship before, and that was with a girl named Olette back in his home of Twilight Town. They had dated for a few months, but soon they had realized there were no intense or romantic feelings between them. He couldn't remember how they first started dating, it was most likely Pence's doing. When he set off for Hollow Bastion, he learned that Olette and his best friend Hayner had begun dating. He was happy for them and gave them his blessings before leaving. In all actuality, he didn't care who either of them dated, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time.

Back to the present, his hand had already reached the table and Axel was staring at him. He was staring, but it was different. It was almost as if he was asking Roxas a question or trying to confirm something. Roxas blinked to notify Axel that he was back in reality. He then realized that Axel's hand was still on top of his. Roxas wasn't big on touching extensively. He couldn't say 'get your filthy paw off me' cause that would sound rude, but he didn't want to wait. He slightly moved one of his fingers in hopes that Axel would get the hint. Axel did and Roxas let out a big sigh that had been resting on the bottom of his lungs.

Axel tapped at his temple in a thinking manner. "You know…how would you like to swing by room after our classes are over?"

Roxas had thought of many possibilities of what Axel was going to say. They ranged from sodomy to strolling on the beach. But what Roxas heard wasn't one of them. This was one of the moments when he hear something but it doesn't register in your mind. Like it flew in threw one ear, looked around, and then said 'fuck this' and got the hell out. Then he said a word that wasn't even in the dictionary to express his surprise. "Huh?"

* * *

Another chapter. Yay. 


	3. Chapter 3

Trying out different writing styles. YAY.

Disclaimer: no own kingdom hearts, Dane cook…MXC…this sweater I'm currently wearing…sigh..the list is endless.

--

"What….is this?" Axel gasped. He glanced from his hoodie back to his stainless white walls, as if the walls had dumped a vat of piss on him and were now laughing and pointing at him.

"Hell if I know." Demyx answered, although he was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question.

Axel pinched the front of his gray hoodie again and pulled it several inches away from the rest of his body. He poked his head down and sniffed again. He emerged with his nose tucked under the hoodie and shocked eyes. "What on God's green Earth created this smell? It smells like cucumber…but feet too…"

Demyx was sitting contently on his bed, watching Axel run in circles with his head in his shirt like a turtle. More like a turtle that ate some weed. No, not smoked, ate. Yeah, that was it. Demyx shifted his eyes to the mini fridge that was wedged between their beds. He idly thought if there were any snacks that maybe Axel had left in there. "Axeeeeeeeel."

Axel stopped running and something plopped out from under his hoodie. On the ground laid a package wrapped in tinfoil. Axel's eyes widened at the sight of it. "Hey, this was part of my lunch! I was playing hide-and-seek the baked potato with Yuffie. She got me this time," He muttered bitterly.

"Can I have that?" Demyx had given up on the idea of the fridge since even if there was good there was the whole action of scooting closer to it and pulling the handle open.

Axel glanced at the wrapped potato and then at Demyx. He then grinned manically. "What will you give me for it?"

Demyx narrowed his eyes. That bastard. "I have this very interesting picture of Paine in a bridal dress from 6th grade. She said she would castrate and kill me if anyone ever saw it. Maybe, I could, uh, _accidentally_ slip it over to you."

"You mean, Paine 'I hate the world' Roberts?" Demyx nodded. "You mean, Paine 'Come close to me and I'll chop your balls off' Roberts?"

"Yup. All you have to do is hand me that potato."

Axel measured this distance between himself and Demyx. "Can't I just throw it to you?"

Demyx chuckled before resting his back on the wall. "Nope. You have to actually walk that whole three or four feet to get to me."

Get to be lazy or see gothic Paine in a bridal costume. Decisions, decisions. Axel locked his eyes on his target Demyx and began to determinedly walk towards him. Demyx only gave him a sly smile and held the photograph between two of his fingers.

Axel stood in front of Demyx and held his hand out. His fingers twittered slightly as if inpatient to get that delicious piece of blackmail.

"Nope. You have to get closer than that." Demyx darkly said. Axel gave him a feral smile and placed one hand on the bed. Demyx mouthed 'closer'. Axel positioned his other hand on the bed and the potato gently flopped on the bed next to it. Axel then lifted his leg unto the bed. Axel was about to lift his other when the door knocked. Axel then fixed his gaze back on Demyx. The door would have to wait. He wanted this badly.

The door then opened and a boy poked his head in. "Um…Axel..?"

Axel blinked and looked back at the door. Roxas was staring back at him, an odd look etched on his face. In Axel's moment of weakness, Demyx grabbed the potato and slipped the photo back into the pocket of his jeans. He then proceeded to poke Axel in the stomach, jump of his bed, and run out of the room. He winked at Roxas as he passed him to the door.

Axel turned around and shouted, "Damn you Demyx! I'll get you and Yuffie back!" The door clicked close just as the last word was said. He sat down on the bed and coughed on Demyx's pillow. "Take that, I hope you get kidney stones."

Roxas gulped nervously. "Hey…did I catch you at a bad time?" Looked like you were about to bite that guy's head off. I don't want to be next. Maybe another time. Like never.

Axel balanced his elbow on his leg and rested his head on it as looked back at Roxas. "It's okay. Demyx always does that shit. He's my roommate."

"What were you doing?" Roxas curiously asked as he unconsciously moved closer to Axel.

Axel then explained the bargain the two had made. By the end, Roxas had sprawled on Axel's bed. His mouth was hanging open. "As in Paine 'fuck you' Roberts?"

"That's what I was saying! Then he took me by surprise and ran out. I'll torture it out of him later, though," Axel mused. Roxas wasn't sure that he wanted to know what was going on in Axel's head about the word 'torture'. "I'll show it to you after I get it," Axel added.

Roxas was staring at the ceiling with his back resting on the bed when Axel said that. He lifted his head and smiled warmly at Axel. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Have you ever seen that show called MXC before? It's hilarious."

Roxas turned to his side and faced Axel. "Yeah, it's awesome. Did you see that one where the guy got crushed by the boulder three times in row?"

"Yeah!" Axel chuckled before reenacting the scene where the man's helmet came in contact with a giant fake boulder.

Their laughter could be heard throughout the dorm.

--

"That's disgusting."

"No, it's improvising." Sora said before taking another bite out of his specially made sandwich. He took long, noisy chews as Riku continued to stare at him.

Riku pushed a stay strand of hair behind his ear. He raised an eyebrow as Sora began to lick his fingers. There seemed to be purple liquid sliding down his finger. "What is that?"

Sora's face scrunched up in thought as he held his sticky fingers out to count. "Erm…a biscuit for the bread…ranch dressing…turkey…mayonnaise…butter…. cheese. I think that's it. Oh, and the jam."

"What do you mean, that's it? You listed five or six things right now. How do you fit so much into that little biscuit?" Riku wasn't sure whether he wanted to peek inside the sandwich or gag. From the feeling in the back of his throat he was pretty sure it was the latter. Riku pushed his seat back and was getting ready for his getaway. He glimpsed at his haven, which was so conveniently called the restroom. Surely he could escape for Sora and his sandwich inside a stall. Energy surged through his veins and his eyes considerably brightened as he slowly raised.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sora's sharp voice pierced Riku's ears. Riku felt that his happiness and been punctured like a balloon that was no whizzing from his brain into his lower intestines. Or maybe that his bladder was feeling the side effects of being denied the bathroom. It didn't matter anymore; he had been caught red-handed.

"The bathroom..?"

"And why did you not wait for me?" Sora's eyes burned through Riku's. Damn it was hot. Riku needed to skedaddle the hell out of there.

"It was just, um, you know-"

The other boy erupted into a fit of giggles. "I was kidding Riku, you can go to the bathroom whenever you want! I'm not your mommy!"

Riku was not pleased. Not one bit. He stood up and walked in the direction of the bathrooms. He had reached the door before he felt a hand wrap around his back. He was still angry, but more shocked. The Sora he had always known would never do anything like that. Of course they would fight and wrestle sometimes, but other than that, he wasn't one to express himself through physical contact. Even with Kairi he had never gotten very close to her and practically everyone knew that she almost worshipped him.

"Sora?" Riku turned around to see something he hadn't expected it. Sora was crying. He was weakly rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. Riku put his hands through Sora's hair and gently brushed through it. "What's wrong?"

"It's …" Sora shuffled his feet that were in his overly large yellow shoes. Kairi had always hated them, but Riku thought they were adorable. In fact, he thought everything about Sora was adorable, but he couldn't tell Sora that. Then Sora wouldn't be friends with him, Sora wouldn't look at Riku the same…if Kairi had been rejected, what chance did Riku have? He wasn't a girl, Sora would probably think he was some weirdo. Sora couldn't know. "It's nothing." Sora's voice wavered back into Riku's ears. It sounded slightly louder, but was different from the usual happy-go-lucky Sora. Riku couldn't help but frown when he heard him.

"How about you wait for me in the bookstore over there while I go to the bathroom? We'll go have some smoothies afterwards." Riku was positive that Sora would go back to his cheery self, he absolutely loved smoothies.

Sora split into a grin and skipped off to the bookstore. Riku was about to enter the restroom when he was sure he heard something. He glanced back to see Sora walking dejectedly inside the shop. Maybe Riku wasn't right, maybe it had been there all along, maybe…

--

Sora sighed for the fifteenth time as he flipped the page of a book. Where was Riku? He had been gone for twenty minutes already. Sora knew that it didn't take that much time to go to the bathroom unless…

Kidnap? Murder? Rape?! Sora's eyes filled with horror as he thought of all the things that could have happened to Riku. His innocent little Riku. His eyes began to water as he tugged once more on his sleeve. He deeply blew into it and disturbed several other people that were in the aisle behind his. His vision was suddenly blocked off. Two hands had been placed over them. Sora's heart froze in shock as he got ready to fight. He would definitely beat the guy that had kidnapped Riku, his Riku…

"Did you miss me?" Sora's heart started to thump at a ferocious rate as Riku murmured into his ear.

"Riku…"

Riku pulled Sora's waist so that Riku was now facing him. His faced felt like it was going to melt into a blob and slide to the floor. Riku briefly smiled at him before leaning into him. Sora felt his shoulders push up against the bookshelf.

That had been the day that they had gotten kicked out of the bookstore for explicit conduct (a.k.a. making out).

X-x-x-x-x-x--x

Review if you enjoy. If not...review anyway! (nice criticism...if possible)


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR:

This story takes a weird twist that probably doesn't make too much sense in the real world, but I thought it tied in a little with the game and it seemed like something interesting to write. Disclaimer: don't own kh 1 or 2 or chain of memories.

HB Hollow Bastion

---

This is the last time. What color do you like, Axel? 'Blondeeeeeee.' No. That's not a color. If someone asks you that, you can't look be an idiot and say 'blooooonde' like a stoner. Say red, green, purple, even fucking bronze or plaid. A small voice uncertainly replied, 'Blondie?' Wrong answer, said brain. Go jump off a cliff. Fuck this whole 'I gotta think of what comes out of your mouth' shit for you. I'm gonna split like a banana split…or was that just a banana? Well, you know what? I don't give a damn cause I quit. That's right, I quit!

Axel's eyes unceremoniously unfocused, his right eye almost rolling back into his skull while the other blankly stared at his foot. His hair remained as spiky and thick as ever, but seemed flat and almost lifeless. He limply lied on the bed as the night slowly caught up to them.

"Axel, Axel, Axel."

"?"

"I thought saying his name three times would bring him back." Demyx muttered. He slightly poked at Axel's hand. "Don't worry, he gets like this sometimes."

Roxas stopped looking at Axel to return a curious glance at Demyx. "Why's that?"

Demyx suddenly looked uncomfortable and he placed his hand over his breast place, clutching over where his heart was. "Axel…his heart…it doesn't work right."

What did that mean? A heart isn't like a broken toy…is it? Roxas didn't like the sound of it. His heart unpleasantly lurched at the thought of Axel without a heart. He couldn't imagine that at all. Everything Axel did seemed to be full of his heart and spirit. He was always so energetic, so happy, and so horny. How could his heart be bad if he was jumping all over the place? Only yesterday had they been playing around together and doing fake stunts.

Demyx continued, "When Axel was first born, they were going to give him a heart transplant cause his heart didn't work well, but…" Demyx shuddered. "They weren't able to get the heart out properly so part of his heart is numb."

Roxas felt like he was choking on air. Which wasn't possible…or was it? He had been listening to paranoid Sora for too long. "Numb…Axel can't feel like the rest of us do?"

"Fortunately, over the years Axel's heart got better so he could do sports like the rest of the kids, but his heart is still numb. Even I don't know what that exactly means. Axel has tried to explain it, but he doesn't like to talk about it. I remembered he mentioned that it was like his conscience was gone. He didn't know right or wrong, he couldn't understand others, even his own mother. Axel used to be really confused as a child. You know what he's like, he doesn't listen to his head or logic…but he can't follow his heart either. For a while he did some. …really bad things."

Rewind. What? I lost you after numb. Roxas felt his eyes glaze over a little. Something moist touched the edge of his eyes. He reached up to his eye and felt water. He was crying? Roxas never cried. He had gotten mad and raged around, but crying was something that Roxas never did. That's what Sora would do and Roxas would silently comfort or make fun of him.

"What do you think?"

"Huh?" Roxas stared at him while Demyx continued to stare at Axel's hand. "Am I supposed to think differently of him or something?"

Now Demyx was looking plainly self-conscious and nervous. It wasn't like he was asking him to prom or anything. "I mean…it's surprising. I never would have guessed that about Axel's heart. But…it doesn't make me think any differently about Axel as a person."

"Whew." Demyx let out a big sigh and smiled brightly at Roxas. "I was hoping you'd say that. Axel really likes you, you know."

"What?"

"You haven't noticed at all? Axel doesn't act so nice around everybody. He may not be much of troublemaker anymore, but he's still not the most social person ever. I think you're growing on him". Roxas still looked disbelieving as Demyx rolled his eyes. "Wow, you're dense."

Roxas was about to retort, but he thought better of it and remained silent. He had other things to think about. He had felt a little flutter in his chest when Demyx told him of how Axel special treatment. He was normal though. He had liked Kairi only a few years ago. Albeit, he hadn't liked anyone since, but that didn't mean he gave up on the entire female population. Right? He wasn't so sure anymore.

Demyx leaned into Roxas and grinned. "You wanna know a secret?"

Roxas hesitantly nodded. Roxas was questioning his sexuality, how much worse could it get?

"Before Axel dated Naminé, he dated others. Back in Traverse Town, Axel dated another person."

"So…?" 

"It was a guy named Xemnas. He was the last person Axel dated before we left for HB University. Axel's bisexual."

Axel dated…a guy? So he liked guys…and Roxas liked Axel. Wait…nooo. Did he? Demyx gave him a knowing look. It just got worse.

--

"I can't believe you got us kicked out!" Sora whined as reached down and lazily swatted at Riku.

"That was yesterday, are you still going on about that?" Riku gave him a satisfied smile as he laid out on the floor. Sora watched him from his bed. "Where's Roxas?"

"I think he's with that guy Axel. It seems they've hit it off."

Riku suddenly sat up with his eyes wide open. "Axel? That's bad. Axel's …"

Riku gave Sora an urgent look before finishing. "very friendly."

Sora closed his eyes and shifted back to the center of the bed. "You were too back at home. You remember that girl Selphie? You two were always at it. I remember wondering how you two had all that energy," He idly answered.

"That was back then. I mean, what was I supposed to do all that time? A certain _somebody_ had no clue that I liked them."

"Who was that?" Sora curiously answered, his head popping over his bed.

"First Kairi, now me? I'm hurt."

It was true, Kairi had liked Sora back at Destiny Islands, but he was just too scared to do anything about it. So he did the next best thing; he ignored it completely. He had, of course, liked Kairi as a friend, but he mind was a little too preoccupied with something else to accept or even acknowledge her feelings. And that was Riku.

"Well…the truth was…I knew Kairi liked me."

Riku moved closer to Sora's bed. "Are you serious," Riku said, giving him an incredulous look.

"It wasn't like I was trying to be mean or anything. But, I wasn't sure if I liked her anyway. This way I wouldn't have to hurt her feelings."

"Sora…Kairi was hurt regardless. She really loved you, she even made this necklace that she wanted to give you. She gave it a name too…it was oath…something." Riku scratched his head before looking extremely serious. "You should have at least told her you knew." Riku pulled away from Sora's reach and stood up.

Sora's face became panicky as he shouted, "It wasn't like that, I swear! I just didn't want to tell her the reason why!" 

Riku turned to look at Sora, his hand resting on the doorknob. "And why was that?"

"It was because I liked you a lot and I didn't know why! I thought she'd say there was something wrong with me!" Sora then curled into a ball and faced the wall.

"Sora…"

"What? You can go already," Sora quietly said.

"Nah, I'd rather stay here with you." Riku replied as he jumped onto the bed, startling Sora. "And for your information, I liked you back then too."

"Really?" Sora looked out from his curled position to see Riku nod. He broke out into a silly grin. "That probably makes us two super-duper idiots."

"Probably."

--

The heart thing is a little sketchy, but I don't think I can make it sound even the tiniest bit dramatic without some weird disease popping up. pathetic.


End file.
